We are the students from 4KJ and 4KM at Leopold Primary School in Victoria, Australia. Our teachers are Miss Kelly Jordan and Mrs Kathleen Morris. We use this space to share all the great things that are happening in our classroom. Please leave a comment!

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Me, Myself and I: How to Use These Words Correctly

4KM and 4KJ have been learning about a grammatical error that is very common; the two personal pronounsme and I are often used incorrectly. This is a mistake that can be made by people of all ages.

There are times when the word me is needed in a sentence and other times when the word I is needed. For some reason (maybe because they think it sounds babyish), some people are nervous about using the word me so they use the word I instead.

How do you know whether to use me or I?

Generally, the word I goes before the verb (doing word).

Examples:

I went to a party.

She and I went to a party.

Jane, Mike and I went to a party.

***

Generally, the word me goes after the verb.

Examples:

He made some lunch for me.

He made some lunch for Fred and me.

He made some lunch for the teachers, Fred and me.

***

Still not sure?

Take the other nouns of the sentence and try both I and me. See what would make sense.

Example:

Would it be “She took a photo of Sally and me”or“She took a photo of Sally and I”?

She took a photo of I(NO)

She took a photo of me(YES)

She took a photo of Sally and me (YES)

In an effort to teach the community about how to correctly use me and I, 4KM and 4KJ made posters with examples.

Thank you to Emily and Becky for taking the photos.

What about myself? When should you use that word?

Sometimes people use the word myself when they really mean I or me.

Example:

Please talk to Mrs Hill or myself if you have any questions (NO)

Please talk to me if you have any questions (YES)

Please talk to Mrs Hill or me if you have any questions (YES)

Myself is a reflexive pronoun. That means it expresses something you do to yourself. Sentences that contain the word myself also contain the word I.

The word myself is not supposed to be a commonly used word. It should not be used instead of I or me.

Examples:

I taught myself how to play the piano.

I thought to myself, “I should be more careful!”

I hurt myself when I fell off the monkey bars.

The word myself can also sometimes be used to emphasise the fact that you did something (not someone else). In this case, myself is an intensive pronoun.

Examples:

I did the whole project myself (ie. no one helped you).

I myself cleaned the whole classroom (ie. you did this task alone).

Can you leave a comment demonstrating how to use me, myself and I?

Have you seen or heard me, myself or I used incorrectly? What was the mistake?

23 thoughts on “Me, Myself and I: How to Use These Words Correctly”

Great post 4KM and 4KJ on a very common problem. The other one that often trips up people is the statement ‘between you and ___’. I often see it as between you and I but it really should be between you and me. It is a difficult one to explain but it is because between is a preposition and it should be followed by an objective pronoun – me, him, her etc. It will be interesting if the rule ever changes because it is commonly (but incorrectly) used and therefore becomes acceptable. Keep up your great work.

Thanks for your speedy reply. I think your tips are excellent and I am planning to share them with my class.
I think your sentence is correct. I worked it using your tip to remove the other noun (Eli) and just said it to see if it makes sense – and it did! Top work.
Is mine correct?
Together Trent and I created tricky sentences.
From your new blogging buddy
Louise

I really liked your smiggle picture. It dosn’t matter if you made a little mistake you still did an amazing job on you picture.

“Sophie and me went to the play ground”.-
Yes, I did notice what your siter said wrong. If you take away sophie and, and then it would say “me went to the play ground”.Does that sound right to you?
So your sister should say Sophie and I went to the playground. Do you think you will tell your sister next time she does says it wrong?

Yes, Mrs Morris and Miss Jordan did teach all of us very well. Now we can teach someone else if they get it wrong.

@ 4KM and 4KJ,
What a great post. I like the subject you did this post on Mrs Morris, and I really enjoyed the subject when we did it, it was fun.

Well when I was little I always got taught from my nana Marie, always use the letter I instead of me and use myself instead of I and me. My nana Marie always pulls me up whenever I say the word right in the sentence she thinks it is wrong.
I love the post, thanks, Mrs Morris.

Hi 4KM and 4KJ
All the incorrect and correct sentences are great I liked all of them
Mine was the one that said my dad gave Joel and me a bag of lollies.
I have heard my mum use I and me incorrect but I forgot what she said.
Got to go for now by KAYLEY!

Dear 4KM and 4KJ,
Well I never knew people had that as a common mistake like that. here I’ve made the incorrect answer:
VJ and me are going to the movies.
and here is the correct answer:
VJ and I went to the movies.

Dear Mrs. Kathleen Morris
Thank you for posting this wonderful blog. You are one of my favorite bloging buddies. This post has taught me the correct way to use me, myself, and I. Every day i have trouble with those three words. But, after i read this this has helped me tremendously. I would like to say thank you again. Also if you have time check out our blog at http://bdonofrio.edublogs.com/
Sincerely,
Cayman